The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on Friday directed former United People’s Freedom Alliance MP Sajin Vass Gunawardena to file a fresh affidavit specifically supporting his request to temporarily lift an existing foreign travel ban imposed on him in a corruption case.
The matter was taken up before Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama after Gunawardena filed a motion through Attorney-at-Law Jeevantha Jayatilake, Ada Derana reported. Jayatilake told the court his client needed to travel overseas for a personal matter and asked that the existing ban be temporarily lifted.
The Chief Magistrate, after examining the documents submitted in support, observed that the affidavit had been prepared for proceedings before the High Court rather than the Magistrate’s Court. He ordered the defence to file a separate affidavit specifically addressing the case pending before the Magistrate’s Court and to set out the facts supporting the travel request.
The defence counsel told the court he would file the required documents on a later date and would also notify the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) before pressing the application.
The underlying case was filed by CIABOC against Gunawardena on allegations that he unlawfully accumulated assets worth more than Rs. 300 million during his tenure as a Member of Parliament.
Gunawardena served as an MP and was a close associate of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration, where he was a senior parliamentary figure on overseas employment and foreign affairs. He is among several Rajapaksa-era politicians whose asset accumulation has been under investigation since the National People’s Power government took office last year.
Sources: Ada Derana.
